Top Crypto News – 30/10/2017

$6,300: Bitcoin Price Hits Record High

The price of bitcoin has set a new all-time high.

Just over a week after pushing past the $6,000-mark for the first time, the world’s first cryptocurrency rose to a high of $6,306.58 on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index at 20:30 UTC today. The previous all-time high of $6,183 was set on October 21st and held for just eight days.

In setting the new high, the price of bitcoin is now up more than 500 percent on the year, having climbed from just below $1,000 on January 1st to the new high.

However, at press time, it remains unclear just how much appetite there is to extend bitcoin prices above this mark at the moment. Hours after the milestone, prices are down somewhat, trading at an average of $6,166 across a selection of global exchanges.

Still, analysts have remarked that the increase comes at a time when bitcoin has never been more visible in the public eye, with business leaders and investment luminaries now discussing bitcoin on an almost daily basis.

Among those who have recently weighed in on its value include billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

Data from Google Trends indicates searches for “bitcoin” and “bitcoin price” are also nearing all-time highs, suggesting this exposure is perhaps translating into new awareness and investment in the protocol, now valued at more than $100 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Plane wing image via Shutterstock

Written by CoinDesk

Here’s how cryptocurrencies are changing the way we understand finance

With a current market cap of over $143 billion, cryptocurrencies are changing the way we understand finance and economics. For perspective, Facebook has a value of $496 billion, or 3.46 times the entire market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies worldwide.

2017 saw the price of one Bitcoin exceed the value of one ounce of gold. With cryptocurrencies surpassing the market capitalization of many large companies, some analysts predict that the bubble is ripe enough to burst.

Written By The Economic Times

7 Trends in Cryptocurrency That Entrepreneurs Should Know About

In the past several years, the online payment environment has consistently embraced new possibilities. In the present moment, payments can be made through simple forms in which you add some information, click a button, and poof, you’re done. However, every payment that we make bounds us to our bank accounts.

Most of the money that we earn, own, or spend is being tracked by one or more governments. There are lots of taxes and lots of “rules” made by the big boys. Unfortunately, the present financial system is often disadvantaging consumers. Why? Because it often collects more than it provides.

Times are changing, though, and the world as we know it in 2017 is going to change a lot. Cryptocurrencies themselves are changing the rules. This is not an explainer article, so if you don’t yet understand cryptocurrencies, you should read up on the subject and head back here once you’re done. However, as a simple refresher, cryptocurrency is an anonymous financial environment or system which allows people to hold and transfer their money in the most secure way possible.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming the next big hit. Nowadays, one finds Bitcoin payment options on a lot of ecommerce stores, airline company websites, and so on. This trend is progressive, and it won’t stop here. Consequently, all entrepreneurs who are looking for a bright future should focus their attention on this amazing change in the financial sector.

In today’s post, we’re exploring 7 trends in the cryptocurrency sphere. Pay close attention and take notes. The future is coming. As an entrepreneur, you must welcome it with open arms. Let’s see what it has to offer us:

PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEW PLAYERS

Even though Bitcoin is the most significant player in the market, new coins like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple are coming from behind. And it’s not just them. As of July 2017, there were over 900 active cryptocurrencies governing the anonymous financial market. Here’s Wikipedia’s list of the current, most popular and accepted cryptocurrencies. Pay attention to the new players, as you never know when their values are going to skyrocket, just as Bitcoin’s did.

THE GOVERNMENTS ARE GETTING INVOLVED

As the new financial order of cryptocurrencies has taken the world by storm, governments have been pressed to do something in order to exert control. However, the entire point of the new system is to eliminate the government from the equation, permitting anonymous and secure trades, exchanges, and payments. While governments cannot control cryptocurrency owners by intrusive means, they’ll surely contribute to the shifting and molding of certain currencies.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES ELIMINATE A LOT OF HASSLE

No more taxes, no more declarations, no more hassle. Cryptocurrencies have sophisticated systems that allow for efficient exchanges that never get compromised. Blockchain technology is evolving extremely quickly, and as it does, the cryptocurrency sphere will grow significantly also.

Most people, if asked, would opt for Bitcoin payments. Why? Simply because it’s more convenient than the alternative. The only problem is that not everyone’s familiar with this concept. Not everyone knows how blockchain technology works, and not every person has a cryptocurrency wallet, so we still need time in order for the full implementation of digital currencies to occur.

BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM WILL REMAIN POPULAR

Bitcoin can hardly go down. As a matter of fact, as of November 2017, Bitcoin’s price is averaging around 5000 euros, while Ethereum is around US$300. Both cryptocurrencies have already garnered a lot of supporters and traders who are extremely interested in these specific blockchain implementations. As the present numbers show, these coins are experiencing continuous, steady growth.

EXCHANGES WILL BE REPLACED BY WALLETS

Cryptocurrency exchanges are not as safe as they might look. Certain leaks and errors have already caused thousands of people to lose their money. However, digital wallets are becoming more and more popular. By using a wallet, you can minimize the risk of a security breach because that wallet is personal. An exchange? Not so much.

TRADITIONAL BANKS MUST CATCH UP

The world’s traditional banks cannot afford to fall behind. And instead of rejecting the trends discussed here (which would be useless), today’s big banks are investing their money into in-depth development and research which are all related to applications of cryptocurrency. Many banks are even partnering with various cryptocurrency organizations in order to better understand blockchain technology.

CRYPTOCURRENCY WILL CONSISTENTLY GROW

Hannah Janson, CEO and Co-Founder of Essay Geeks, suggests:

“Cryptocurrencies represent the future; as you can see, they’ve made their first appearance a few years ago. Now? One bitcoin is worth $5800. That’s extremely impressive. With this growth, we can expect Bitcoin to grow over 8k by the end of the year. New coins are showing up in the marketplace, and the trends will constantly shift!”

TAKEAWAYS

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and they’ll play a huge role in changing today’s economy. If you’re flexible enough to see it, money will take a different form in the next several years. Many entrepreneurs will become rich because they’ve invested in the right cryptocurrency at the right time. Be wise and do that too!

Written by The Merkel

According to local news feed cnLedger, the two umbrella exchanges are “soon to launch” p2p Bitcoin trading with support for fiat currencies including the yuan.

“We believe they’ll support CNY and some others,” the resource tweeted Monday.

The timeliness of the information is poignant, coming just before the last Chinese-only exchanges shut their doors due to a government ban on crypto-to-fiat trading.

While both OKEx and Huobi-Pro are international non-China based operations not subject to the domestic ban, cnLedger hints that through undisclosed mechanisms both could ultimately give access to Chinese traders.

“They are registered outside China, and are operating independent of OKCoin (at least they claim so… you get the idea),” it wrote in a follow-up response.

Wink-wink, nudge-nudge

OKEx itself set the ‘wink-wink, nudge-nudge’ tone when announcing its future plans after the Oct. 31 shutdown deadline.

At the weekend following the Communist Party Conference a new exchange, ZB.com announced it would offer full functionality from Nov. 1, with details nonetheless remaining sketchy.

Last week, Cointelegraph reported on the surge of interest from extradited Chinese exchange operators in setting up new bases elsewhere in Asia and notably Japan, where local platform Quoine said it had been unable to service the level of interest.

Bitcoin meanwhile continues to hold above $6000 Monday as Chinese optimism swells, and the threat of the SegWit2x hard fork continues to create tension and opportunities for short-term traders.